“We must prevent further waves of migration and close off the migration routes”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in Budapest on Friday following a meeting with Malta’s Minister for Foreign and European Affairs Evarist Bartolo.

Hungary’s chief diplomat said the main topic of discussion at the meeting was the fact that the global pandemic could easily give rise to further waves of migration aimed at Europe, in view of the fact that the quality of healthcare was poor in certain African and Asian countries, where the economic situation was already bad, and the coronavirus could worsen conditions to an even greater extent.

The Minister also spoke about the fact that the main migration route passes through Libya, which is suffering from war, is an unstable county, and is incapable of preventing migration towards Europe on its own. “For this reason, the Libyan coast guard must be reinforced, towards which the countries of the Visegrád Group (V4) have offered 35 million euros in funding”, he added. “If Libya is unable to prevent people from boarding boats, then they will reach Europe thanks to the non-governmental organisations that are working in collusion with the people smuggling networks”, he stated.

“The Hungarians and the Maltese know full well the effects of illegal migration (…) and for this reason we are strongly representing the standpoint that migration must be stopped, not managed”, the Minister declared, referring to the fact that, similarly to Malta, Hungary is also the external border of the Schengen Area.

He also drew attention to the fact that the renegotiation of the migration and development agreement concluded between the European Union and the countries of the African, Pacific Ocean and Caribbean regions in 2000 is currently underway in Brussels. “Western European countries are citing this agreement as something that is establishing legal channels for migration in the interests of importing labour”, he added. According to Mr. Szijjártó, this argument has become totally untenable on the part of the Western Europeans, in view of the fact that millions of European people have lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus epidemic.

He also spoke about the fact that people are now free to travel between Hungary and Malta, with six air passenger services travelling between the two countries each week. “38 thousand Hungarian tourists visited Malta last year”, he added. The Minister called on Hungarians who decide to holiday in Malta this year to following the local regulations. He recalled that the government had previously decided that grade 9-11 school children will be able to spend two weeks abroad in the interests of studying languages, and one of the countries designated for this is Malta. “8300 students have applied to study English in Malta, and to begin their studies from the next academic year as soon as is made possible by the coronavirus situation”, he added. “For this reason, and also in view of the 3000 Hungarians living in Malta, Hungary opened a diplomatic representation in Valletta last year, and the number of staff working at the embassy office is now being increased”, the Minister stated.

Evarist Bartolo emphasised: “Libya’s 1700 kilometres of coastline is being protected by a single boat, and the defence of Europe cannot be entrusted to just one boat”. “This is not a Maltese issue, it is a European issue”, he declared. “Europe’s southern border is unprotected, and the European Union isn’t even trying to defend it”, he added. The Maltese minister said economic migrants are the greatest problem, pointing out: “The conditions have changed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and difficult conditions no longer only exist in the countries from which migrants set out, but also in receiving countries”. He also said that Europe must not “siphon off” Africa’s greatest talents, because the African countries also need talented people. He pointed out that this is also the position of African leaders. “Young Africans should experience their future in Africa (…) it would be unfair for us to attract them to Europe”, he stated.

With relation to the EU’s multiannual financial framework, Evarist Bartolo said: “The small countries cannot ‘carry the larger countries on their backs’, and they cannot be penalised for having abided by the regulations and introduced measures to reduce their costs”. “It is unacceptable for this logic to not also be extended to the larger countries; we will not pay for the mistakes of others”, he stated.

In reply to a question from the press Mr. Szijjártó spoke about the fact that the recovery fund cannot operate to the detriment of countries that have reduced their government debt, their budget deficit and their rate of unemployment, and which have remained disciplined. He also spoke about the fact that Hungary is expecting the new German Presidency of the Council of the European Union to accelerate the Western Balkan enlargement process.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)